Today, 478 years ago, on September 26th, 1547 (September 13th, 1547 in the lunar calendar), Spanish novelist Cervantes was born. Cervantes (1547 ~ 1616), Spanish novelist, dramatist and poet. Born in the town of Alcalá de Henares in central Spain-a dilapidated aristocratic family. He entered middle school in 1568, and went to Italy with a cardinal in the following year, where he was able to enjoy ancient and modern literary masterpieces. Joined the army in 1570. The following year, he fell ill and took part in the naval battle of Lebando against the Turkish army, and lost his left arm. On his way back to China after the war, he was captured by Turkish pirates to Algiers. Redeemed country in 1580. In order to make a living, he served as a quartermaster and tax collector for 15 years, and traveled back and forth all over Spain to witness social injustice and people's suffering. Literary writing began in 1582. The first novel is the idyllic Galatea (1584), with many thrilling plots interspersed with the theme of love between a shepherd man and a shepherd. The novel Don Quixote is his most important work, and it is also one of the earliest realistic novels in Europe, enjoying a world reputation. Writing began in 1602, and it was divided into two volumes, upper and lower, and published in 1605 and 1615 respectively. After the first volume came out, it was very popular, and readers rushed to read it. Republished 5 times in one year. In 1614, someone published the sequel to Don Quixote under a pseudonym. The quality of the fake works was inferior, which vilified the images of Don Quixote and Sancho, prompting him to step up his creation. In 1615, he published the second volume to restore the glory of the original work. The book describes a poor squire who became fascinated by reading the legend of the knight, changed his name to Don Quixote, found a peasant as his attendant, went out as a ranger, and wanted to restore the great achievements of the knight. He made a lot of laughter and suffered a lot along the way, and finally went home and died in a mess. The original intention of the author's creation of this huge volume is to imitate chivalry literature to satirize the absurd chivalry legends that are all the rage. However, in the process of describing Don Quixote's wandering abroad, the author depicts a broad picture of Spanish social life at that time, exposes the dark corruption of feudal rule, and expresses the progressive humanistic thought of the Renaissance. Don Quixote and his attendant Sancho have become famous models in world classical literature. Other important works include the tragedy Numancia (1584), which describes the plot that the people of Numancia were besieged by Roman legions, refused to surrender, persisted in the struggle for 14 years, and finally the city was broken, and all the residents died heroically, showing high patriotic enthusiasm. A collection of short stories, Stories of Punishing Evil and Promoting Good (1613), depicts the life of all strata in Spanish feudal society in a realistic way. The long poem "Travels of Barnas" (1614) depicts the appearance of Spanish literary circles at that time and the author's own creative practice with humorous style. The script "Eight Comedies and Eight Interact Shorts" (1615) depicts the paranoia, selfishness, superstition and backwardness of the aristocrats, and ridicules the stereotypes and bad habits of society. Cervantes's last novel is the story of Bechelles and Sigis and Sigismonda, who went through all kinds of hardships and traveled to Northern Europe, and finally became a good marriage. It was only published the following year after the author's death.